A Place To Bury Strangers – a relentless live act with a reputation for deafening noise

On Transfixiation, A Place To Bury Strangers have managed to capture the feeling of their ear-splitting live shows on record

rooklyn-based noise rockers A Place To Bury Strangers are a relentless live act with a reputation for deafening noise. On their fourth album Transfixiation, the first featuring drummer Robi Gonzalez, they have tried to harness this energy and create a record which more closely resembles their sound on stage.

The trio have largely succeeded in their aim, Transfixiation is immediate and relentless, an aggressive assault on the ears. Songs such as Straight, with its scuzzy riff driving the band along like Death From Above 1979 at their best, are rousing fist raisers. We’ve Come So Far is a controlled explosion containing familiar snippets of My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus And Mary Chain. By the time the hoarse and muffled I Will Die closes the album you really are left with that post-gig ringing in the ears.

The band’s eponymous debut was an instant cult classic and, as is so often the case, has proved an almost impossible act to follow ever since. By removing some of the effects and concentrating on noise mongering, A Place To Bury Strangers have become a slightly less interesting affair. Despite achieving the live sound they were after, Transfixiation feels like a small step backward for the band, albeit a gloriously raucous one.